


Traffic Jam

by yohoyohoafandomlifeforme



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Driving, F/M, Fluff, LA, embarassing dancing, kind of a meet cute, one direction - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:54:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24785749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yohoyohoafandomlifeforme/pseuds/yohoyohoafandomlifeforme
Summary: You’re listening to 1d while stuck in a traffic jam. The next car over, Harry Styles is entertained by the girl singing along to his songs. (featuring the real star of the show, Mitch Rowland)
Relationships: Harry Styles/Reader
Kudos: 77





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't loveee the ending but I think it's kind of cute. Might do a part 2, haven't decided yet cause it doesn't really need the part two.
> 
> also posted on tumblr: https://sometimesiwritebadly.tumblr.com/

You love LA. You love driving. You love music. You especially love driving in LA while listening to music. Loudly. As loud as your radio will let you. And you sing even louder than that. You’ve never been embarrassed of this, in fact you take stride in your impeccable mini car-concerts. Sure, sometimes people will give you weird looks at red lights, but who cares? You’re just living your life, and you’re not hurting anybody. Today your car concert is getting an extended edition, as you’re stuck in typical LA traffic on your way home from work. Your windows are rolled down, and since you were feeling a little nostalgic, you decided to put your favorite band from your teenage years on shuffle: One Direction. You were 30 minutes deep into what you expected to be another hour or so of traffic, but not even incessant honking and barely moving cars could bring down your mood while One Direction music is playing. Right now the last chorus of Girl Almighty is playing through your speakers, and your focus is solely on nailing it. 

I get down, 

I get down, 

I get down on my knees

I get down on my knees for you!

As you began very enthusiastically playing your air guitar, the lane next you inched forward, and you didn’t notice the two very entertained men who now had front row seats to the show you were putting on.

Mitch was driving the car, laughing at Harry as he stared through the window. It was clear to Mitch that it wasn’t just the girl’s music choice that had Harry so focused, though he decided not to point it out. As the beginning notes of Temporary Fix began playing through your car’s stereo, you let out an excited “Hell yeah!” before reaching to turn the music up even higher. Harry laughed loudly at this, even moving to take his phone out and film your enthusiastic performance. He and the other One Direction boys didn’t always talk, but he knew they would appreciate this in their group chat. He stopped filming just as you reached his verse, though he immediately regretted his choice when you started dancing even harder. Clearly this was a favorite line of yours. 

“Is that what I look like when I dance on stage?” He asked Mitch, taking his eyes off you for only a second before turning his head back to the window.

“Absolutely not. You look way stupider than that.” Harry laughed at Mitch’s response, though he still couldn’t rip his eyes from you. Harry and Mitch continued watching you, even singing along a little as you danced. When the song came to a close, Harry erupted into applause and Mitch honked the horn once or twice, causing you to turn and notice the car that had been sitting next to you.

You were confused for a second, and didn’t even notice the next song, Over Again, come on as your eyes widened in recognition. Sure, you’ve never been embarrassed by random strangers seeing you dance like an idiot, but having Harry Styles watch? As you danced to his music? 

You turned the music down slightly, and slouched in your seat to hide your face. Normally you didn’t mind the long drives home, but now you willed the car in front of you to move. This was not how you wanted to meet your idol. Eventually you leaned back up, only because you knew it wasn’t safe to not be able to see the road, despite the lack of movement from any of the cars around you. Despite how much you loved the song playing, you kept your hands on the wheel and faced forward, only slightly mouthing along to the words instead of the full out dancing you would usually be doing.

Harry felt bad about your sudden change in attitude. He hadn’t meant to embarrass you, and he certainly didn’t want you to stop. Without your energetic dancing, the rest of this traffic jam would be pretty boring. Then Harry had an idea. It’s definitely not the smartest idea he’s ever had, and is very risky, but fuck he wanted you to keep dancing and, well, he never hated talking to a pretty fan. “Try and stay near her car.” Harry quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and, before checking that traffic was still unmoving, he opened the door and jogged over to her passenger seat. Mitch was yelling after him, but he paid no attention as he approached her car. You noticed him walking over, and stared confusedly as he knocked on the window, and pulled on the car handle. Quickly, you unlocked the car, and watched as your idol jumped in, buckling the seatbelt.

“What the fuck are you doing?” You asked. You love him and all, but this was next level stupid. For all he knew, you could be a crazy fan. You could kidnap him! Why would he risk this?

“You’re not the only one who loves dancing to One Direction music, love. Didn’t want ya to stop, so I figured I’d join ya.” He smiled at you, before reaching his hand over. “I’m Harry.” This made you laugh lightly, your confused face slowly being replaced with a smile. 

“Yeah, uh, I know… I’m Y/N.” You placed your hand in his - fuck, those hands - and happily shook. After a beat of silence, you grab your phone and unlock it, handing it to him. “Y’wanna be the DJ?”

“Oh, absolutely.” He answered, taking the phone and queuing up some of his favorite songs from back in the day, plus sneaking in some of his own music. As he did this, the car in front of you began to move, so you focused on the road instead of the international superstar sitting in your passenger seat. The beginning notes of Kiss You began playing, putting a smile on your face. 

“Is this your favorite song?” 

“Oh, no, I don’t think I could ever choose a favorite One Direction song. I always loved performing this one though.” He looked up from the phone back to you as you stopped the car again. For once he was thankful for the traffic; as long as the car wasn’t moving, he could really look at you. “D’ya have a favorite?” You began rattling off a few of your personal favorites, but it was clear that you couldn’t really choose either. But once he heard some of the songs you liked, he added them to the queue he had created as well, before putting the phone down in one of your cupholders and putting his full attention into singing and dancing with you. To anyone driving around you two, you probably looked like crazy people. At first you had been a little restrained, not wanting to embarrass yourself again, but Harry eventually coaxed you out of your shell until you were both dancing like idiots. This went on for four or five songs. You danced, sang, and occasionally talked to each other.

“So do you normally jump into your fan’s cars as they drive home or is this a first for you?” You ask as Through The Dark came to a close. Surely he had seen people listening to his music in public before, but you were curious what made him trust you.

“Oh this is a first for sure. Sometimes I’ll see people listening to my music, but usually I’m busy or can’t make my way towards ‘em. I saw an opportunity with ya, so I took it.” He shrugged as he said this, no longer paying attention to the music and focusing only on you. “You don’t look like the type to try and’ harm me, plus Mitch is right behind us so I figured I’m safe enough.” At his words, you turned your head to see the Mitch was in fact in the car behind you, lightly nodding his head to whatever song was on his radio.

“Well, I’m glad you did. It’s not exactly how I would have imagined I’d meet you, but I’m glad you decided to join.” You smiled at him, and he smiled back. The two of you stared at each other for a minute before you were distracted by a new song. Harry groaned slightly as your eyes widened in recognition to the song you had downloaded from a youtube video. “Medicine! Do you see what I have to listen to because you won’t release a studio version, Styles?”


	2. Exit Lane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s time for you to leave the freeway, but Harry isn’t ready to let you go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also posted on tumblr https://sometimesiwritebadly.tumblr.com/

This is the best hour of your entire life. Seriously. For nearly an hour, you’ve been having your own personal carpool karaoke session with none other than Harry Styles. You listened to all of your favorite songs; Midnight Memories, Watermelon Sugar, What Makes You Beautiful; in honor of Harry’s final Live on Tour show, the two of you had listened to Kiwi three times in a row. As you were both incredibly out of breath after your enthusiastic performances, I Want To Write You A Song began to play through your car’s speakers. “Finally, a slow song.” You thought. 

“Been thinking about covering this song for my next tour.” Harry, still slightly out of breath, mentioned. “Between this and a couple of songs that didn’t make the album.”

“Ok, here me out; sing all of them. And every other song you’ve ever written. It’ll be a really long concert, but totally worth it.” Harry laughed at your response, and looked away from you towards the ever-so-slowly moving traffic. This was when you realized where you were; nearly back to your house. “Damn.” You mumbled, disappointed that this would have to end.

“What’s wrong?” Harry’s laugh had faded, and he looked at you with a concerned look, as the traffic began to move, you flicked on your turn signal, getting ready to move towards the exit lane.

“My exit is coming up.” Harry stayed silent after you spoke, letting the lyrics of I Want To Write You A Song be the only sound between the two of you. “I didn’t even notice how long we’d been in traffic.” You admitted, looking towards Harry after successfully merging into the next lane. Through your rear view mirror, you noticed Mitch follow you with his own car.

“Neither did I.” Harry was upset as well; he’d had such a fun time with you, but he did have important work to get to. He was sure he and Mitch would already be late because of the traffic, and he’d get in trouble if he tried to skip all together just to hang out with you. “Are ya busy tomorrow?” Even though Harry didn’t know much about Y/N besides her favorite one direction songs, decent driving skills, and impressively bad dancing, he knew he wanted to see her again.

“Um, no.” Y/N was shocked he had even asked; she figured he’d get back in his car and this would just become a story that no one would actually believe happened. “It’s my day off, I’m free all day.” 

Harry grabbed your phone from its place in the cupholder and unlocked it - earlier you’d reluctantly admitted that it’s 0723, One Direction’s anniversary, so he could play whatever songs he wanted from your phone - but instead of clicking on your music app, his thumb tapped on your text messages.

“I’ll pick you up ‘round 11 am tomorrow.” He said, as he sent himself a text from your phone. 

“Do I get a choice in this?” You asked playfully, even though both you and Harry knew that you’d say yes.

“You can decide whether or not to come with me, but I’ll show up at your doorstep at 11 either way.” Harry joked, giving you one last smile. As you guys inched closer and closer to the exit you had to take, Harry kept stalling to stay with you a little longer. He asked about your job, what other music you listen to, how long you’d been a fan of his. You loved that he seemed to be genuinely interested in you and your life, despite how boring it was compared to his own. When it came time for you to actually get into the exit lane, Harry unbuckled his seat belt and - after a short moment of hesitation - leaned over to give you a kiss on your cheek. “See ya tomorrow, love.” And he jumped out of the car, back to Mitch’s passenger side. You were so shocked by his actions, you almost missed the exit you needed to take in order to get back to your place; luckily, you made it to the correct lane, and watched out of the rearview mirror as Harry’s car disappeared from your view.

~~~

“That was stupid.” Was the first sentence out of Mitch’s mouth when Harry opened the door, as Harry sat down, Mitch continued, “Did you at least get her number?”

Harry didn’t respond, although the small smirk on his face gave away the answer. He turned up the music Mitch had been listening to, and watched as your car began to drive away. Harry was already looking forward to seeing you again, as he began to plan out your date in his head when traffic finally began to move forward at more than 10 miles per hour.


End file.
